Letter: School tests: survey of parents in Scotland, an examiner's view, where teachers' loyalty lies

Sir: Lord Russell (letter, 9 April) urges John Patten to read Oliver Cromwell's letter in which an impossible order is rejected. I fear that this advice will not improve the situation; for, in a letter to a junior officer in 1643, Cromwell wrote:

I learn your Troop refuses the new Coats. Say this: Wear them, or go home. I stand no nonsense from any one. It is a needful thing we be as one in Colour . . .

Yours faithfully,

JONATHAN TAYLOR

Vermuyden School

Goole,

North Humberside

10 April